A year ago I found myself in a place where I was repeating the same items over and over, trying to make things just for art shows, and feeling a bit bored (unusual for me) with pottery. To remedy the situation, I enrolled in a couple of ceramics classes at the local JC and spent Saturdays in class instead of at the studio. With a fantastic instructor and a great studio, I was able to focus on new techniques without any pressure for deadlines.
As I seem to have time for only either learning or producing, I haven’t made much more than the class assignments and with only 2 weeks of class left, I am eager to get back into the studio at IFAC and start making some fun pieces with my newly acquired skills. I come away with the following thoughts:
- I really don’t enjoy sitting at a booth selling pieces at a public fair/event. People are looking for bargains and I would rather give a piece to a friend than sell it for less than it is worth. So I just won’t do them as a rule. Etsy, here I come.
- I also have enough deadlines in my real life to not need the added pressure to produce for a show. So ditto the first point.
- Because I do enjoy sharing pieces and need to continually clean out my inventory, I will focus instead on making items for good causes. Dog bowls for the local shelter, “fancy” stuff for fundraising events for groups that I am involved in.
- Getting the garage cleaned up for a home studio is now very high on my priority list!
With all of this in mind, here are photos of a few pieces that I made for class this spring. I hope you like them as much as I do.
